Anti-Zionism Is Not Anti-Semitism: What You Can Do About The Atrocities In Gaza

Updated on October 25, 2014

The UN Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian areas: "The
Israeli air-strikes on the Gaza
Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law
as defined in the Geneva
Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the
requirements of the laws of war."

Israeli watchtower. Israeli wall.

Ceasefire

There is a ceasefire in Gaza. For the moment at least Israeli shells are no longer desecrating the land nor frightening the people. Palestinian women and children are no longer being killed in their beds or shot dead in their doorways. No rockets. No sniper bullets. No white phosphorus shells. No jet planes bringing screaming death from the skies. The people of Gaza can walk the streets again free from the fear of attack.

But this is still not finished. The occupation continues. Israeli soldiers have withdrawn from the cities, but are dug in close by, watching. Israeli tanks, which a few days ago bustled back and forth over the broken landscape, firing shells into the crowded cities, now stand mute, unmoving, their very silence a form of threat.

The blockade continues. The people have no access to their borders or their coast. The wall is still there. The checkpoints are still manned. Israeli snipers still take aim from the watchtowers, like prison guards in a concentration camp. The Palestinian people have no government, no institutions, no police, no army, no voice, no protection. Hamas have been driven underground, but they have not gone away.

Both sides will no doubt proclaim victory. The Israelis will say their war aims were met. Hamas will declare that it has survived.

Meanwhile there are 1,300 dead: the majority of them civilians, including more than 400 children.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Boston Oct 28th: 2008

"We hope the
occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel will end.

"There is a cry of anguish from the depth of my heart,
to my spiritual relatives. Please, please hear the call, the noble call of our scripture.

"Don't be found fighting against this god, your god,
our god, who hears the cry of the oppressed.

"Because of what I experienced in South Africa, I harbour hope for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"I experienced a déjà vu when I encountered a security
checkpoint that Palestinians must negotiate every day and be demeaned, all
their lives.

"When I hear, 'that used to be my home,' it is
painfully similar to the treatment in South Africa when coloureds had no rights.

"Spiritually I am of Hebrew decent. When apartheid
oppression was at its most vicious, and all but knocked the stuffing out of
those of us who opposed it, we turned to the Hebrew tradition of resistance,
and the belief that good will triumph over evil, and that a day of freedom from
oppression will come.

"The well-to-do and powerful complain that we are
mixing religion with politics. I've never heard the poor complain that ‘Tutu,
you are being too political.’

"I am not playing politics when it involves children
who suffer. A human rights violation is a human rights violation is a human
rights violation, wherever it occurs."

Craters

Huge craters pockmark the land where once
stood the institutions of government, all hope of a future Palestinian state having
been effectively blown to smithereens.

You wonder what all of this has been for.

The Israelis claim it was to stop rocket
attacks on its Southern towns, but any close observation of the sequence of
events will show that it was the Israeli Defence Force which broke the
ceasefire on the 4th of November with an unprovoked attack upon a
Palestinian house in which 6 Hamas operatives were killed.

Hamas say that despite the ceasefire the
Israeli blockade was continuing, cutting off necessary supplies and starving
the Palestinian economy.

The tunnels under Rafah brought flour,
diesel and cooking oil as well as rocket parts.

Candidates in the forthcoming Israeli
elections have elbowed their way to the front in the face of the TV cameras,
vying with each other over who is the strongest-looking, the most virile, the
most stalwart and uncompromising in the face of the terrorist enemy.

The Israeli state has taken advantage of
the pause between presidents in the USA while the Israeli army has made up for
its humiliation at the hands of Hezbollah a couple of years ago, demonstrating
for the whole world to see the full extent of its ruthless determination to
make the Palestinian people pay. No amount of condemnation has made any
difference. The UN is impotent. The international community is silent. World
leaders are compromised.

"Hamas knows today what Israel
does when it's harmed, the world knows what it does when it's harmed and even
accepts this. Therefore, I think they won't do this again soon," said
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is herself running for prime minister in the
February elections.

The sight of mosques with the tops of their
minarets blown off, having been picked out by Israeli tank shells for target
practice, is a warning to their neighbours. Nothing is sacred.

In the face of all this devastation and
horror what is an ordinary person to do?

1.

Find out the
facts. There are large numbers of websites out there expounding a variety of
views. Read them all. This is the crucial issue of our day. Until a just
solution to the Palestinian question is found there will be no peace in our world.
By reading up on all sides on the question, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli,
you will soon get a feel for the arguments and for the origins of the dispute.
Meanwhile, there is no better place to start than Noam Chomsky, Fateful Triangle:
The United States, Israel and the Palestinians.

2.

Contact your local
media. Write to newspapers, magazines. Enter talk show debates. Inform people. Talk. Find out as much as
you can and pass it on, in whatever way you can. Don’t be silent. Don’t allow
the propaganda machine to assume your complicity by remaining disengaged. This
is crucial to our future. No one in this world today can afford to be
misinformed or ignorant about this. I’d rather hear honest disagreement than
silence on this matter. In the end the truth must be heard to be known. As the Quakers say: "Speak Truth to Power." More than this. Power already knows the truth, it is the populace who are lost in ignorance. Now let them hear.

3.

Write to your
government and your local representatives. We must demand that a proper investigation
be carried out into the alleged war crimes in Gaza, and if it turns out, as the
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian areas says, that
the Israeli state has committed war-crimes, then people should be held to
account. Politicians as well as army officers must be brought to trial. Israel must be branded as a terrorist state. Diplomatic relations
have to be broken off. Ambassadors must be sent home. Israel has to be isolated and made to pay for its flagrant breach
of international law and its disregard of all civilised rules of behaviour.

4.

Boycott Israeli goods. The barcode for Israeli goods starts with the numbers 7290. All goods with those numbers are from Israel and should not be purchased. Sometimes the label will include the words, “Made in Israel” or “West Bank”. All such items should be boycotted. More: we should picket shops selling these goods. Shops which support Israel by selling their goods should be made to feel embarrassed at the sight of pickets standing outside holding placards with details of the Israeli products for sale inside. For more information, please go to: http://www.bdsmovement.net/

5.

Join a group. Campaign
groups include the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (http://www.palestinecampaign.org/)
and The International Solidarity Movement (http://palsolidarity.org/).
If you feel you can’t take action, or are too isolated and uncertain of your
neighbours, then you can at least make a contribution. Keep up with the news on
their websites. Have their newsletters sent to your inbox. You don’t have to
feel alone. There are millions of us out here with the same views as you. Or,
as the current slogan has it: “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all
Palestinians.”

6.

Support Israeli and Jewish peace groups in their opposition to the Zionist state. Contrary to what the spin-doctors and propagandists of Zionism pretend, anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. The opposite, in fact. Palestinians are Semites too. The attack on Gaza is an attack upon a Semitic people, and is itself an act of gross anti-Semitism.

“What more proof does one need than the fact that for centuries, Jews have lived peacefully in Arabic countries, enjoying the respect and friendship of their neighbours? The tragedy of Zionism changed all of that. The painful truth is that in the eyes of the Zionist government, Jews are merely the cannon-fodder needed for the State of Israel to achieve its agenda.”

Palestine Solidarity CampaignThe Palestine Solidarity Campaign works for peace & justice for Palestinians, in support of human rights & against all racism

I Acknowledge Apartheid ExistsMembership of this group constitutes an awareness that Israel's occupation of and actions in Palestine constitute Apartheid; It's recognition that Palestinians are subject to different laws and standards than Israelis.

Comments 19 comments

You're on a mission CJ and it is an honorable and necessary one. You have written nothing yet on this subject for which I can find any credible reason to disagree.

I recently discovered a very powerful photographic essay which makes very clear the extremity of the atrocity being committed by the Zionist state in the name of the Semitic people. It is a composition of old black and white photos of the Nazi treatment of the Jews in Germany and Poland juxtaposed with current photographic evidence of identical treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government.

Hamas has committed many atrocities against Jews. Why is there a double standard? Why are the Jews not allowed to defend themselves?

CJStone 6 years ago from Whitstable, UK Author

There is no double standard. Atrocities are atrocities and should be condemned no matter who commits them. In this case, however, it is the state of Israel committing major war crimes and atrocities against a captive population, including women and children.

jandee 6 years ago from Liverpool.U.K

good stuff,every word the very truth and hope advice re. boycott of Israeli goods will be taken on board,thanks

OmNaser 6 years ago from kuwait

This is amazing . well written hub and very rare to see articles that are similar to yours . Will always boycott israeli products.

CJStone 6 years ago from Whitstable, UK Author

Thanks jandee and OmNasser. Keep boycotting Israeli goods.

Poppy 4 years ago

Fantastic article! We need more people like you to stand up for justice and human rights and to stand up against bullies like Israel. Do you know of any volunteer opportunities in Palestine, particularly Gaza and the West Bank for high school students?

CJStone 4 years ago from Whitstable, UK Author

Poppy, the best bet would be to contact the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. There's a link in point 5 above. At some point I'll be going out there with a circus school, but it probably won't be for another year or so yet. If you want to come along contact me via HubPages and I'll see what I can do.

SoSyrious 4 years ago from Houston, Texas

Excellent! Thank you for this. Definitely following! (Oh, and adding those 4 barcode numbers to the inside of my coupon book so I'll not forget. :D)

CJStone 4 years ago from Whitstable, UK Author

Glad you like it SoSyrious. I'm not sure those barcode numbers will apply in the US. Just look for any Israeli goods: they are all tainted.

SoSyrious 4 years ago from Houston, Texas

Oh, I didn't think about that! I have an entire list of Israeli products and companies that support Israel I've boycotted. I'll check some here and see if it's the same or not and post it here! Perhaps write a HUB about it too. That's such a simple thing we can do to help.

CJStone 4 years ago from Whitstable, UK Author

That's a good idea SoSyrious. I'm following you now so when you do I will leave a comment.

James-wolve 2 years ago from Morocco

Thank God ! still in the world there are noble and humanitarian people.Fantastic article Sir CJStone.Once again Israeli Defence Force broke the ceasefire and commiting forbidden actions in Gaza(the second Warsaw ghetto).It seems as if this article just written today.

God Bless you.

CJStone 2 years ago from Whitstable, UK Author

James, it is several years out of date now but I will probably write a new one this week.